French Court Convicts Author for Minimizing Rwandan Genocide

A French court has convicted French-Cameroonian author Charles Onana for minimizing the Rwandan genocide. The writer, aged 60, received a fine of €8,400 ($8,900; £7,000), while Damien Serieyx, his publishing director at Éditions du Toucan, was mandated to pay €5,000. Additionally, they must jointly provide €11,000 in damages to the human rights organizations that initiated the legal action. The court in Paris determined that Onana’s publications contravened French legislation against genocide denial and the promotion of hatred, stating that France would “no longer be a haven for denialists”. Approximately 800,000 individuals were murdered in Rwanda over a period of just 100 days in 1994 by ethnic Hutu extremists. These perpetrators targeted members of the Tutsi minority group, alongside political adversaries, regardless of their ethnic background. In his 2019 book, “Rwanda, the Truth About Operation Turquoise,” Onana characterized the notion that the Hutu government orchestrated a genocide in Rwanda as “one of the biggest scams” of the last century. Olivier Nduhungirehe, Rwanda’s Foreign Minister, expressed approval of the conviction, remarking on X that it represented a “landmark decision”. The court stated that Onana’s publication had “trivialised” and “contested” the genocide, which took place from April to July 1994, in “an outrageous manner”. The lawsuit against Onana and Serieyx was initiated by the non-governmental organization Survie and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) on grounds of “publicly contesting a crime against humanity”. Opponents have contended that the book misrepresents historical facts and diminishes the severity of the atrocities committed during the genocide. Conversely, Emmanuel Pire, Onana’s lawyer, informed the AFP news agency in October that the book constituted “the work of a political scientist based on 10 years of research to understand the mechanisms of the genocide before, during and after”. Pire maintained that Onana did not dispute the occurrence of the genocide or that Tutsis were specifically targeted. Richard Gisagara, the prosecution lawyer, characterized the court’s ruling as “a victory for justice that protects genocide victims and survivors”. He further stated that this marked the initial instance of genocide deniers being penalized in Europe. French legislation stipulates that it is an offense to deny or “minimise” any genocide officially recognized by France. Both Onana and his publisher have lodged an appeal against the judgment.